Press Release Details

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A study from Thomson Reuters released today shows explosive growth in research output from China, far outpacing research activity in the rest of the world.

At this pace, China will overtake the USA within the next decade.

The study, Global Research Report: China, informs policymakers about the research and collaboration potential of China and its current place in world science. The study is part of the Global Research Report series from Thomson Reuters that illustrates the changing landscape and dynamics of global research around the world.

"If China's research growth remains this rapid and substantial, European and North American institutions will want to be part of it," said Jonathan Adams, director of research evaluation at Thomson Reuters. "China no longer depends on links to traditional G8 partners to help its knowledge development. When Europe and the USA visit China they can only do so as equal partners."

The study draws on data found in Web of Science®, available on the Web of Knowledge(SM) platform -- the world's largest citation environment of the highest quality scholarly literature. Key findings include:

    --  China's output increased from just over 20,000 research papers in 1998
        to nearly 112,000 in 2008, The nation doubled its output since 2004
        alone. China surpassed Japan, the UK and Germany in 2006 and now stands
        second only to the USA.
    --  China is heading to overtake the USA in output within the next decade.
    --  China's research is concentrated in the physical sciences and
        technology. Materials science, chemistry and physics predominate.
        Looking toward the future, rapid growth can be seen in agricultural
        sciences and life sciences fields such as immunology, microbiology, and
        molecular biology and genetics.
    --  The USA stands out in terms of collaboration with China., US-based
        authors contributed to nearly 9 percent of papers from China-based
        institutions between 2004 and 2008.

    --  Regional collaboration expansion is notable, especially with Japan,
        South Korea, Singapore and Australia.

For more information, please visit http://researchanalytics.thomsonreuters.com/grr/.

For members of the media wanting a copy of the full report, please contact Susan Besaw at susan.besaw@thomsonreuters.com.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

SOURCE Thomson Reuters

Susan Besaw, Healthcare & Science, +1-215-823-1840, susan.besaw@thomsonreuters.com, or Pamela Lim, Healthcare & Science, +65-6411-6737, pamela.lim@thomsonreuters.com, both of Thomson Reuters